Library services

Our Library was established in 1980 to support our research work and disseminate learnings. Our library is not open to the public. However, you are welcome to browse our collection through our catalogue, then order any books and articles through your local library.

AIFS library catalogue

Our library catalogue records our publications and key resources in the sector.

The collection features 'grey literature' reports, books, journal articles, conference papers and book chapters. It covers a broad range of areas including: child abuse prevention; child development and psychology; family law; economics; demographics; family violence; sexual assault; and parenting.

Australian Family & Society Abstracts

Produced by staff at the Institute's Library since 1984, the Australian Family & Society Abstracts database:

• records the research, policy and practice literature about Australian families and the social issues that affect them
• draws upon a wide range of social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology, demography, health, education, economics, law, history and social work
• contains abstracts for journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, research reports, discussion and working papers, unpublished papers, statistical documents, theses and grey literature.

Subscribe through Informit Online or view as a subset of the AIFS library catalogue.

Family Thesaurus

The Family Thesaurus provides a list of the subject terms developed for indexing and retrieving information in the Australian Family & Society Abstracts database. Terms included in the thesaurus reflect the database's multidisciplinary approach to factors affecting life in Australian society and are drawn directly from the literature being indexed.

The thesaurus was previously published as a standalone book, and then made available as a text file. A new text file will be made available after the next review.

Interlibrary loans and document delivery

Other libraries are welcome to contact us about inter-library loans and copies. We follow the Australian Interlibrary Resource Sharing (ILRS) Code. We accept payment by direct deposit only. Note, our staff are not on-site full time, so express delivery may not be possible: please contact us first.

Contact

Please email the AIFS reception team at [email protected] and direct your enquiry to the library. AIFS’ contact details and address is available in Contact us.